During ink jet printing, the ink is typically ejected through a component of a printhead (e.g., an array of nozzles) onto a substrate.
The inks used in ink jet printing can be hot melt inks. Hot melt inks are a solid at ambient temperature and a liquid at temperatures above ambient temperature. Hot melt inks can be used, for example, in digital printing methods. During printing, the ink is typically heated until it becomes a liquid which is then ejected through a printhead onto a substrate. The ink can solidify on the substrate at ambient temperature.
The hot melt ink can be used with an inkjet printer having heating capabilities, which can eject droplets of ink through tiny nozzles to form small dots, which in turn form an image on a substrate. The resolution of the image printed by the ink is typically measured by the number of dots per inch (DPI).
The inks used in ink jet printing can also be radiation (e.g., ultraviolet (UV)) curable inks. When radiation curable inks are used, the ejection of ink can be followed by a curing step as a means to control flow. For example, one method of curing involves exposing to UV radiation a UV curable ink, which contains reactive reagents that polymerize or cross-link upon exposure to UV radiation.